Always Look Behind You
by The Gray Ninja246
Summary: Eighteen kidnappings in six months. The nineteenth was the last straw. Out of sheer desperation the Ninja and Kunoichi were called in. But what they thought were just kidnappings were actually part of a bigger plan. Now they must discover, conceal, and reveal clues and horrifying truths about the kidnappings, the people behind them, and their reasons for committing their crimes.
1. Prologue

**Hello, everyone. It's Gray. :) Hope you've all been doing well.**

 **So, I was just thinking about ideas that could potentially be turned into a story whenever the idea for this particular one came up, and I knew that I would have to act on it soon and turn this into a story.  
**

 **Okay, so I should also inform you that there will be some language and other stuff in here, therefore the rating that it is. (And also because it's me, and the majority of my stories are rated T, so yeah. *shrugs* Oh, well.)  
**

 **I do not own Ninjago, just my OCs.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

It was almost ten o'clock at night in Ninjago City, and the Ninjago City Police Department (NCPD) was alive and busy.

"What do you mean ' _It's happened again_ '? Who is it this time?" Chief Adrianna Burns' brow furrowed into a fierce look of concentration as she listened to Officer Richard Fish report the newest case of kidnapping.

For the past six months, there has been a total reporting of eighteen kidnappings reported in the Ninjago City area, and none of the victims had been found, much to the NCPD's despair. This newest case was just adding more stress to the police department, and it was already bad enough; it didn't need to get any worse.

"Chief!" Burns jumped as Dalton Sheppard barged into her office.

"I'm on the phone!" she snapped at him before returning to the phone. "Oh, I see," she said into the speaker.

"But that's not all of it," Fish added quickly, "there was a piece of ripped cloth soaked with blood. Detective Wilson's taking it in for examination and see if there's anymore that can help us."

Burns groaned inwardly. "Fine, okay. Wrap it up there fast, and then report back here."

"Okay." Fish hung up, and Burns returned the receiver before turning to look at Sheppard, who was tapping his toe impatiently.

"This is really starting to annoy the hell out of me," he said. "I'm tired of staying here late and working on trying to figure out all these cases."

Burns stood up. "Yes, I know you are. I am too, but until we recover those missing people, we can't rest."

Their eyes met, and Sheppard said, "We could always call _them_ in."

Burns curled her lip. "We have the situation under control; the last thing I need are twelve teenagers running around here and screwing everything up."

"Yeah, sure we have everything under control." Sheppard's voice dripped sarcasm. "But they're also good trackers and they know how to handle this type of stuff."

"They're meant for fighting snakes and skeletons, not for kidnappings and murders," Burns snapped heatedly.

"For the love of God, can't you throw away your pride for once and accept the fact that we need them?" Sheppard challenged. Burns didn't reply. With an exasperated sigh, Sheppard turned and started to leave. Once he reached the door, he paused and turned his head slightly to the left.

"I already asked if they could help us, and they more than willingly accepted." With that, he turned and left, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the _Destiny's Bounty_ , the twelve teenagers that Burns didn't want "running around and screwing everything up" were bouncing around, eager at the prospect of helping with the city in things other than fighting snakes and skeletons.

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Sam squealed. "We're actually helping out with NCPD."

"Don't forget that we're dealing with kidnappings," Cole reminded her in a serious voice. "We're going to really need to step up our game and really work together so we can get this over and done with."

"Cole's right," Zane mused from where he was sitting in the corner with his legs crossed. Syber, the ever-present falcon, was perched on his knee, and he was lightly stroking the robotic bird's back.

"Well, this is still something."

"Alright, everyone," Josh announced as he entered the bridge, where everyone was gathered. "The police want us at the station no later than nine o'clock tomorrow morning so we can get the mission briefing, requirements, and the other stuff like that."

"So, let's all get some good sleep tonight," Emily stated, "because we're going to need to look our best tomorrow."

* * *

 **Well, how was it?**

 **Please remember to review (no flames) and tell me how you liked it, and fav/follow.**

 **Till next time, have a good day/night, and I'm out. :)**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hi, everyone. :)**

 **Thanks for the reviews, now on to Chapter 1.**

 **I do not own Ninjago.**

* * *

Cole craned his neck back, looking up at the building before him. "You know, I always thought that I would never have to go into the police station."

"Me too," Kai agreed, and Cole turned his head to look over his shoulder at the fiery teen for a moment before looking back at the station.

"Are we dressed appropriately?" Josh fretted, tugging at the hem of his tee shirt. "I would hate to make a wrong first impression." Cole rolled his eyes and sighed in exasperation. It was just like Josh, always worried if he was going to make a good first impression.

"You look fine, Josh," Jen assured him. "You always do."

"If you say so." Although he still looked slightly doubtful.

Cole sighed. "Come on; they're waiting for us."

* * *

"You are obviously the Ninja and Kunoichi, unless something has happened since the last time I checked." Adrianna Burns, the Chief of the NCPD, examined each teenager carefully, a slight look of undisguised distrust in her eyes.

"Yes, we are," Cole answered. He extended his hand, continuing with, "I'm Cole, the Earth Ninja and leader of the Ninja."

Burns shook his hand briskly, still looking at him with distrust. "Thank you for coming on such short notice. We just can't handle this by ourselves any longer, and so one of my colleagues suggested that we have you come and assist us. Now, if you'll follow me." She turned, and the Ninja didn't have a choice but to follow her.

"So, are there any updates on any of the kidnappings?" Nya asked.

"Nothing good. We received yet another report of a kidnapping just last night," Burns replied gravely. "Any more of this, and we'll all snap under the amount of stress and pressure we're under here. Everyone's tired and their nerves frayed, but we're not resting until we have the kidnapper or kidnappers behind bars."

"Crap, that makes for nineteen total," Jay muttered under his breath.

"Here." Burns stopped and handed each of the Ninja and Kunoichi one folder, but some got a second folder. "Here are all the reported kidnapped persons." Cole opened his up and began to skim the page.

 _Name: Sarah Lee Hedge_

 _Sex: Female_

 _Age: 17_

 _Height: 5 foot, 7 in_

 _Weight: 138 lbs._

 _Birthday: 09.19.1998_

After another moment or two, he closed the folder and looked up at Burns. "What's the situation about last night's kidnapping?"

"A twenty-seven-year-old woman," Burns answered. "She was reported missing by her husband early yesterday evening, and someone nearby heard screams coming from the alley. Turns out it was her."

"What is the description of the kidnapper, Ms. Burns?" Zane inquired politely.

"Tall, sleek, always dressed in black with the hood of his jacket always pulled down over his head, with a mask covering the nose and down on his face. No one really knows what he looks like, but there's rumors going around that he has crimson red eyes that glow with vertical slits that look like a cat's."

"Why is it always the women that get kidnapped by these kinds of creeps?" Kai looked up from where he was comparing Jordan's, Emily's, Rachel's, and Lloyd's folders to his own. His gaze dropped back down to the five folders. "Are they being sold as sex slaves, or are they being captured so that some parts of them are harvested? Either way, the people who do that are nothing more than a bunch of perverted, sick creeps."

The Kunoichi and Nya all stared at Kai with looks of disgust and nausea, and the males all felt like face-palming.

"However, Kai does bring up a good point," Zane pointed out. "There are indeed people out there that _are_ nothing more than a bunch of perverted, sick creeps who enjoy causing women everywhere pain, misery, and fear. If my calculations are correct, then we are not dealing with just one, but several, perverted and sick creeps who are kidnapping these females for their own pleasure."

Cole allowed a small smile to show on his face as he turned back to Burns, who was staring at Zane. "Well, that just about sums it up. Zane here is hardly ever wrong, and even if he _is_ wrong by any chance, which I highly doubt, then at least we can count on him to make good comfort food whenever we feel like giving up." The Earth Ninja turned to look at his team, holding up his folder. "Alright, guys, we have us some perverted, sick creeps to catch. And let's get this wrapped up as soon as possible. I do want to be able to sleep soundly without any worries."

* * *

 **I really have nothing to say, other than thanks for reading. :)**

 **Remember to review, and have a good day/night.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Hi, everyone. I hope life's treating you all well. :)**

 **Thanks for the reviews (as always), and here is the next chapter.**

 **I plan on updating this every Wednesday, unless something comes up, then I will update on Friday instead.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **I don't own Ninjago.**

* * *

 _Name: Henrietta Smith_

 _Sex: Female_

 _Age: 32  
_

 _Height: 5 foot, 6 in_

 _Weight: 135 lbs._

 _Birthday: 12.29.1983_

 _Physical characteristics: She has short, curly dark blond hair with hazelnut brown eyes. She is more on the smaller side, and has a soft voice. She was last seen wearing a yellow sundress with orange flowers printed on it, a brown purse, and black flats, and her location was at the park Monday, July 13._

Zane sighed and leaned back in his chair, arching his back and feeling his spine crack in between his shoulder blades. He glanced at the digital clock set on the corner of the desk that he was at (although he already knew that it was 8:49:31 P.M.), and leaned forward, resting his forehead in his hands, staring intently down at the open folder. A picture of Henrietta Smith was attached to the top of the folder, and her smiling face made the right corner of his mouth twitch as he carefully studied the image.

"Hey, Zane." He looked up and turned his head around to look at the person who spoke. It was Jen, wearing a white v-neck tee shirt and black athletic shorts. Her beach blond hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail, and in her hands was a small tray with a teacup and teapot on it.

"I thought you needed a little something," she said, setting the tray down next to him.

"Thank you," he answered. He sighed, letting his head fall back for a few moments, his ice blue eyes staring at the profile of her face.

"Why do I have a feeling that something really bad is going to happen?" she stated. Zane shrugged, straightening up in his seat.

"I was having a similar feeling today," he admitted. "There's something about this that doesn't seem right."

"Of course it's not right, Zane," Jen snapped slightly, "There are women and girls being kidnapped for some reason that irritates the hell out of me because I don't know what reason that may be." Her eyebrow twitched, and she muttered "Sorry" under her breath.

"I feel the same way, too," Zane reassured her. "But until we find one of the kidnappers, this will be a living nightmare. Not just for them or us or the police, but for everyone in Ninjago. No one will be able to rest easy until we find those kidnappers and bring them to justice. After all," he looked into the light of the desk lamp that was turned on, the soft glow of it bathing his face in a light golden light, "every woman in Ninjago will be terrified of going outside alone, of being the next victim. Daughters, wives, nieces, aunts, sisters"-the word made Jen and Zane glance into each others' eyes-"any female and all females will want to remain hidden, protected. Heh." Zane looked straight ahead. "Every woman wants to be safe, to feel protected. But some know better than others that that isn't always the case."

* * *

Once Jen left Zane to his studying of each individual folder, she leaned against the wall right outside the study and sighed heavily.

 _What will become of us if we don't solve this quickly?_ she wondered. _Will we be disgraced, or will something else happen?_ She sighed heavily once more and slid down the wall so that she could pull her knees up against her chest. She was thinking about what Zane had said, about how no female in Ninjago would want to venture outside. Especially not after the nineteenth kidnapping last night.

"So, what did Zane have to say?" Rachel inquired the moment Jen stepped into the room shared by the Kunoichi and Nya.

"Nothing really, other than some stuff about how every single girl in Ninjago won't really want to step outside now, for fear of being the next victim," Jen answered. "That was pretty much it."

"Well, the guys are going to want us under their watch at all times," Sam stated, "I just know they'll probably put us under house arrest, but how much good will that do?"

"Either way, there's no way am I going to let some damn, pesky kidnapper creep catch me," Jordan announced, sticking her nose in the air.

"Yeah, because you'll scare the crap out of them the second they see you," Emily teased her, throwing a gray pillow at the Death Kunoichi. The pillow caught her in the face, and Emily was returned the favor, this time with a black pillow. Soon, there was a pillow fight going on between all six girls. And somehow they knew that this would probably be the last chance that they would get for quite some time to be like regular teenage girls.

* * *

"You pulled an all-nighter, didn't you?" Zane nodded at the question, his eyes slightly shadowed and bleary as he reached for his cup.

"I had to, Jay," the nindroid answered calmly, sipping his tea. "I memorized the information of all nineteen missing girls, and I also made several private phone calls to some of the officers and detectives involved in this." He started to idly stroke Syber's back, a thoughtful look taking residence in the Ice Ninja's pale blue eyes.

"Nerd," Jay mouthed to the others.

"I know, right?" Nya mouthed back to him.

"So, Zane, have you come up with any possible solutions?" Lloyd asked, taking a bite out of his waffle that was smothered in whip cream and syrup.

Zane shook his head. "Not yet. However, all the victims are between the ages of fifteen and forty, and the kidnappings were all following the the outline of the week. The first kidnapping was on Sunday, then a few weeks later it was Monday, Tuesday-"

"Et cetera, alright, Zane, thank you for that observation," Cole interrupted, "Now, let's finish up here and get back to the station."

"Actually, that won't be necessary, Cole," Emily countered. "We're to go to each location of the kidnappings and see if we can deduce anything else that might have been skipped before. It's amazing what a fresh pair of eyes can do when looking at something that has already been examined."

"Since when were _you_ a philosopher, Emily?" Josh teased her.

"It's not philosophy, Josh, it's common sense."

* * *

 **So, what do you guys think of it so far?**

 **Review, please, and have a good day/night. :)**

 **Thanks for reading! :D**

 **-Gray**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hi, guys. :) Sorry for my slight absence, but school's just started up, as well as band and homework and getting sick (I'm only a couple of weeks into school and I'm already sick! What the heck?) and having to bake 40+ cookies for my section brothers because they are apparently just that good, etc. So, yeah.**

 **I do not own Ninjago.**

* * *

"Ugh. Why is it always the nasty places that we have to go to?" Kai curled his lip in disgust as he and the others looked at the filthy alleyway before them. "We always seem to have the ugly, nasty places. I feel like a dog rummaging through the garbage." He looked at his siblings. "Anyone else feel that way, or is it just me?"

"Not just you, Kai, not just you." Nya patted her brother on the shoulder.

"So, what are we looking for?" Jordan said, but then she made a sound of protest whenever Zane brushed past her and took a few steps forward before crouching down.

He seemed to be looking at something of great importance, and whenever he stood up and turned around, Kai saw that there was a strip of cloth in the Ice Ninja's fingers. Zane's eyes were narrowed chips of ice, and he said, "Chloroform. The ultimate kidnapping substance that silences the victim within seconds of a single sniff of it."

Kai slowly exhaled through his mouth, filling his cheeks with air and then pursing his lips. "Okay, other than that, is there anything else that you can determine, Zane?"

Zane shook his head before stiffening slightly and then turning back around. "On the other hand, maybe there _is_ something else. Something that slipped past them whenever they originally looked at this particular site."

"Which kidnapping was this one?" Cole asked to Zane's back.

"The first, Elizabeth Anne Franklin. She was reported missing February fourteenth, which is slightly ironic. Kidnapped on Valentine's Day." Zane was staring intently at the brick wall, running the pad of his finger across some of them. It appeared to Kai that he was looking at something etched into the brick, and Kai was confused.

"Uh, Zane, what are you doing?" Kai was relieved to see that he wasn't the only one confused whenever Jordan asked the question.

"Those fools! They call themselves detectives. They said that they examined everything about all the scenes, but they skipped something. Damn, those blind idiots!" Zane pounded his fists on the wall, his forehead in between his hands. "How _could_ they?"

Kai exchanged looks with everyone around him. Did Zane just lose it? He was talking nonsense (not to mention he was using words that he did not use under normal circumstances), and it was starting to worry Kai.

"Explain," Cole growled. Zane turned his head to look at the leader, and Kai was alarmed to see the amount of hatred and rage there in the Ice Ninja's narrowed, gleaming eyes.

"We need to get to the other kidnapping sites now!" Zane spun and started sprinting. With exchanged looks and shrugs, the others turn and started following him.

* * *

"Care to tell...what the...hell this...has to do with...anything?" Lloyd panted.

"The kidnappers have written inscriptions on the bricking of the the locations," Zane said, "but they're a jumbled mix of letters. It may take a while to decode it, but I will get it. I am sure of it."

"What the hell does _that_ mean, Zane? What inscriptions, huh?" Emily demanded, and Cole put a hand on the Kunoichi's back, in between her slightly hunched shoulder blades.

"Easy, Emily. But seriously, Zane, can't you offer any type of explanation?"

"I think I've already explained it," Zane replied calmly. "Now, if you will excuse me, I must return to the _Bounty_ immediately so that I can begin work on the inscriptions."

With that, the nindroid turned and began walking away, his hands in his pockets and a thoughtful, yet mysterious, look on his face.

"What the hell was _that_ all about?" Jordan said, waving a hand at Zane's back.

* * *

Zane was busy writing down the inscriptions, his back hunched and his gaze intent on the paper. The tip of his tongue protruded slightly from his mouth, and feeling the need to moisten his lips, lightly swiped the tip of his tongue around the edge of his lips.

This was confusing him. The inscriptions that he had noticed on the walls didn't make much sense. Unscrambling them was no problem (heck, he was a master at unscrambling words), but trying to figure out what the inscriptions meant, well, that was a different story.

He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms high over his head. He lowered them after a moment and shook his head. Damn, why did this have to be so hard? He ran a hand up the right side of his face and into his hair and scratched the back of his head. He glanced at the clock and groaned inwardly. It looked like another all-nighter for him. Not that it mattered to him anyways, since he didn't really need sleep, unlike normal, regular humans. He curled his lip at the thought. Normal? Regular? Normal and regular he would never be, thanks to the wires and gears and all the synthetic, artificial material that made up his body. Nothing about him was real. He didn't even have a soul, as he was just a robot.

 _What the hell is this supposed to mean?_ Zane stared down at the paper. _What do these_ mean _, exactly? What messages lie hidden in these words?_ Zane groaned and buried his head in his hands. He was starting to get a headache from this twisting maze of words and mystery. He froze at that thought; wait, if he was a robot, then how could he possibly be having a headache?

He shook his head to clear it of the clouds of his thoughts, and he glanced at the time. _Damn it. Well, it's either another all-nighter and I use my energy reserves, or I go to bed and then tomorrow I be angry at myself for not trying to figure out what the messages mean._

He decided to go with the latter, and after a final review of the paper, he folded it up and then stuck it into an unmarked envelope, which he placed in the drawer of the desk on top of the folders that contained the missing girls' information. He stood up and turned off the light, and then proceeded to the door of the study.

Come hell or high water, they _would_ find these girls and they _would_ put these bloody perverted, sick creeps behind bars.

* * *

 **So, any thoughts on what the inscriptions might be?**

 **Review, have a good day/night, and this is Gray signing out till next time.**

 **Bye! :)**


	5. Chapter 4

**Gah, I'm sorry for not updating regularly on Wednesdays and then on Fridays of the same week in case I wasn't able to update on Wednesday, but midterm is tomorrow and besides that I've also been having to memorize four songs for band; make cookies for my section siblings; get sick the end of the first week of school; blah blah blah, etc etc etc...So that's my excuse this time.**

 **Thank you as always for the reviews. They make my horrible, stress-filled witch-y days so much better. :)**

 **I do not own Ninjago.**

* * *

By the end of the week, Nya was feeling depressed. There had been no progress made in any of the missing cases, and now everyone was getting sad, mad, and tensions were rising. In fact, just the previous day, Kai had become so tense that he snapped and accidentally set the weights room ablaze while he was taking it out on the punching bag. Fortunately, Jen was right there and was able to put the fire out before it became too serious; unfortunately, the punching bag that Kai was using was now a pile of ash (but that's replaceable).

"Why can't we just solve this damn problem and get it over and done with? It's annoying the hell out of me." Nya wrapped her arms around her boyfriend's shoulders, resting her cheek in between his shoulder blades.

"Just calm down, Jay," she said in a soothing voice, "we'll figure this out in no time. Just you wait and see."

"Zane, how are the inscriptions coming along?" Josh turned his head to look at the nindroid, who had dark shadows under his eyes from too many all-nighters.

"I was able to transcribe them easily enough, but what I do not like about them is that they could be very well meaningless phrases," Zane answered. "Here. Maybe all what I need are just a fresh pair of eyes." He handed his folder out to Josh, who accepted it and opened it.

The Life Ninja's lips moved without sound as he read the sentences. Once he was done, he looked back at Zane, confused. "What the heck?"

"Precisely," Zane said. "It makes no more sense to you as it does to me."

"Here, let me look at it." Josh handed the folder off to Rachel, whose eyebrow went up as she read the contents.

"Riddles, perhaps?" she suggested, closing the folder and handing it back to Zane.

"Maybe," he answered. "But I have a strange feeling that it's too early to tell what they are."

* * *

That night, Rachel had a dream. She was surrounded in a dark place, and she heard soft whispers as well as a slight rustling sound. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Her eyebrow twitched, and she frowned slightly.

 _This is an odd place,_ she thought as she took a few steps forward. _Where am I, exactly?_

The whispers suddenly disappeared, replaced with an eerie silence. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and something told her to turn around and start running.

However fast or far she ran, she could hear footsteps chasing after her at the same pace. When she dared glance over her shoulder, all she saw was a pair of glowing red eyes with cat-like vertical pupils. Her own eyes widened, and she poured the rest of her strength into her fast-paced run.

 _No matter how fast or far you run, I will find you_. The voice was soft and masculine, whispered gently in her ear, and she could have sworn that she felt the sensation of warm, full lips brush against her ear. _You will be mine to claim, Nature Kunoichi, and I will never let you go._

A bright pillar of white light suddenly turned on, and Rachel threw her arms up in front of her face to shield her eyes, skidding to a hasty and sudden stop on the loose gravel of the ground. Once she had become adjusted to the sudden light, she slowly lowered her arms, and was surprised to see Lloyd standing there. But this wasn't the Lloyd she knew.

The Lloyd standing before her was dressed entirely in black, with the exception of an evergreen-colored shirt beneath the hoodie and the green mask that was tied around his neck with a matching sash knotted at his hip. His eyes were red with vertical black slits, and he held a hand out to Rachel.

 _"Come to me, Rachel, and I will forever guide and guard you,"_ he said in the voice that she had heard earlier. _"Take my hand and follow me."_ A pair of magnificent green feathered wings suddenly spread out behind him, and a sense of security and peace rolled over Rachel.

In a trance, she began to approach Lloyd, but right before she placed her hand in his, she froze.

"I can't," she whispered, withdrawing her hand. Something in the Lloyd before her changed, but before he could react, she found herself waking up in a cold sweat with her heart pounding.

* * *

"You look horrible. Didn't you sleep well last night?" Lloyd looked at Rachel, concern clear in his emerald green eyes.

"I'm fine. I just had a bad dream, that's all," she answered.

"We're all having bad dreams, Rachel," Jordan said darkly. "Some worse than others."

"Dream therapy is now in session! Jordan, describe your dream from last night." All eyes turned to look at Josh, who looked at Jordan with a notebook and pen at the ready.

"Cut it out, Josh, this isn't funny," the Death Kunoichi snapped. "I have dreams that scare the living hell out of me, and I don't feel like talking them, okay? So just back off and leave me alone." With that being said, she rose from the table and left the dining room. Josh stared after her and then turned to look at the others. "What did I do? Was it something that I said?"

"Josh, maybe you _should_ back off and leave her alone," Emily said, staring down at her plate of untouched toast. She looked up, her stormy blue-gray eyes shining with a serious light. "Although she's too proud and stubborn to admit it, she's scared of being the next victim. But so am I. We all are."

"It's true," Sam added. "Until we find these damn kidnappers, no woman in all of Ninjago will be safe. But please, just take a few steps back from us. We can take care of ourselves."

 _Female pride,_ Lloyd thought, _they always claim that they can take care of themselves, but in reality and in a certain sense, they need us to back them up. And that goes two ways. Just because Cole, Zane, Jay, Kai, Josh, and I are males doesn't mean that we have to rely solely on ourselves and each other; we also need the girls to help us._ He looked into his water glass. _And I'm right, aren't I?_

* * *

 **So this is a crap chapter, but I made it right as I started this and I frankly don't feel like going back and editing it and making it better, so I'm just going to leave it the way it is and hope that you guys liked it. (Trust me, the next chapter will be better than this piece of crap that I wrote who knows how many weeks ago.)**

 **As always, don't forget to review and have a good day/night. Till next time (which will very well probably not be Wednesday), this is Gray, and I'm out. :)**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hi. Not saying much other than sorry that this has taken a little while to get out, but writer's block and basically no time to write, thanks to my schedule, and also thanks for reading, and that I also don't own Ninjago, just my OCs.**

* * *

Several days later, Sam couldn't believe her eyes as she stared at the newspaper down in her hands. "What the hell is this? Guys, look at this." She held the newspaper up so that the others could see the headline of _Ninjago Times_ :

 **KIDNAPPER AT LONG LAST CAPTURED**

 _The kidnapper behind the nineteen kidnappings has finally been captured and has been condemned to a life sentence in prison. Kilroy Jackson, age 28, was caught at 1:09 A.M. of Saturday, August 3, attempting to kidnap yet another woman.  
_

The article then went on to explain certain details, like that he had a history with the police before but had always managed to gotten out of jail one way or another. Sam looked up at everyone, an eyebrow raised slightly.

"This doesn't make any sense," she said. Kai stretched his arms high over his head and slowly rose to his toes, saying, "Sam, what do you mean it doesn't make any sense? This means that the police have our man now and that we can all get a good night's sleep tonight for once ever since we got dragged into this mess." He lightly touched back down and his arms fell back down to his sides. Sam frowned, unconvinced.

"This feels like it's been solved too fast," Jordan announced, "Sure, for the police they're probably celebrating because they've been at this for far too long, but it could just because we haven't been involved for nothing more than two or so weeks that I feel like this has been finished too quickly."

"Wait a sec...Sam, do you mind if I see that newspaper really quick?" Sam obliged, handing the newspaper to Jay. He quickly skimmed the front page before flipping to page B-2. A few moments later, as he was still reading, he said slightly slow, "There is no mention of the kidnapped women whatsoever. Nothing at all."

"Gimme that," Nya stated as she snatched the newspaper out of her boyfriend's hands. "He's right. And you would think that there would be _something_ about them in here. But there's not."

"Damn it," Kai complained. "That's one way to ruin a guy's sense of hope."

"Not now, Kai," Cole sighed, "Save your complaining for later. But right now, I'm going to call up the police just to clarify things with them. I'll see if I can get any info as well."

* * *

While Cole was doing that, Emily was thinking of ways on how to lighten the overall mood of the _Bounty_ , which had taken on a depressing theme in the past few weeks. She figured she could always rearrange furniture, or make a few watercolor paintings of bright abstract art, or just simply try to convince everyone to play something like _Twister_ or _Apples to Apples_. She thought about her options, but then decided that everyone would deem her odd and weird if she just started to rearrange the furniture for some unknown spontaneous reason; she didn't have the watercolor sets that she would have liked, and she frankly didn't feel like stealing Cole's; and the game idea pretty much went out the window. Like seriously, who plays _Twister_ anymore? And why would you play something like _Apples to Apples_ when such an innocent card game could get kind of dirty kind of fast (at least, the way _they_ played it always seemed to be the case). So it looked like the Storm Kunoichi was out of ideas.

 _I might as well just go into the kitchen and drown myself in lemongrass tea for the next three hours,_ she thought morosely with a sigh of resignation as she began the trek to the kitchen from the bridge. Or, better yet, she just needed to get some fresh air. With a change in plans, she headed to the deck and whistled for Hail.

"And what are you planning on doing?" Jay said in a teasing voice from behind his twin sister. Emily turned her head to look over her shoulder.

"I'm just waiting for Hail, that's all," she answered. "I just need to get some fresh air and sunshine before winter sets in."

"Let me come with," he offered instantly. When she looked at him, he kind of developed a slightly sheepish look. "I mean, when was the last time we just hung out and did normal things?" And only a Ninja would consider dragon-riding with his twin sister a _normal thing_.

"I'd appreciate the company," Emily replied smoothly. Just then, Hail and Wisp appeared, just underneath the hull of the hovering ship. The two dragons looked up expectantly at the twins, who looked at each other and clasped right hands with a foot planted firmly on the railing.

"Let's do this," the twins of Lightning and Storm said at the same time, each grinning wickedly at each other before letting themselves fall forward and onto their dragons below.

* * *

And down at the police station, Cole, Josh, and Zane were having an intense discussion with Adrianna Burns.

"Wait, so you mean to tell me-"

"That is exactly right," Burns replied, cutting off Josh's statement. "But we still appreciate the help that you've offered, especially for taking care of the snakes and skeletons." With that, she turned around, sending a clear message that the discussion was over. Zane, however, placed a hand on her shoulder. When she turned to look at him, she noticed that his pale eyes were darkened slightly, but with what she couldn't tell.

"What about the inscriptions?" he inquired, releasing her shoulder. "What do they mean?"

"What inscriptions?" Burns replied, confused. "We know nothing about any inscriptions." Zane's icy gaze narrowed and darkened even more, his slim eyebrows pulling down low over his eyes.

"He's talking about the inscriptions that were at the sites," Cole explained, "he found them as we were going by every kidnapping scene." Burns tilted her head to the right slightly, perplexed at this.

"We have pictures taken of the sites, but I can tell you that there are no inscriptions anywhere. However, you're welcome to examine them anyways. Would that help?"

Cole nodded. "Very much, please."

* * *

The three ninja's eyebrows all pulled down low over their eyes as they examined the pictures taken of the kidnapping sites. Josh was seated at the computer, clicking to the next photo after thoroughly examining the previous one. His left hand was up to his mouth so that his first finger was under his nose and one of the knuckles of his forefinger pressed lightly to his upper lip; the rest of his hand supported his chin. His usual think face.

Zane leaned down over Josh's shoulder, his sharp eyes missing nothing as his system recorded each image and storing it for a later date, if the need ever arise. He shook his head slightly, saying, "How...? This does not compute."

"Same here, Zane," Cole said absentmindedly from Josh's other shoulder. He moistened his lips and then rubbed the back of his neck, rolling his shoulders back twice to work out any kinks that might have formed in the while that he had spent with his back hunched slightly as he leaned down over Josh's right shoulder. "Ugh, I'm starting to get a headache."

"So am I, Cole," Josh replied, going to the next folder of pictures. His left hand moved from his mouth to his hair so that it was now buried deep into his light brown hair, groaning slightly. "Why does this have to be so complicated? Why can't this be a five minute mystery for once?"

"Because it's life, Josh. Nothing is ever just _five minutes_ ," Cole stated. "Wait, go back." Josh went back to the previous picture, and Cole leaned in closer to the screen, squinting slightly. He zoomed in on something that had caught his attention, but then realized that it was nothing; his eyes had been playing tricks on him from analyzing so many pictures.

"Well?" Zane said, and Cole shook his head, replying with, "Never mind. It was nothing. Keep going, Josh."

The total time it took for them to look at every single photo was about an hour and fifteen minutes. And the pictures confirmed what Burns had said: There had been no inscriptions when the photographs were taken. Which could only mean one thing...

"So, does this mean we're screwed if we don't keep looking over our shoulders?" Josh said, looking up at Zane and then at Cole and then back down to the computer.

Zane slowly moistened his lips, taking a moment to think of an answer. "I think...we are being stalked."

* * *

 **Oh, so how was _that_ for you guys? Pretty good, right? ;) (I'll admit, this was a pain in the butt to write.)  
**

 **And, as usual, review and have a good weekend! :)**

 **So, till the next update, bye for now!**

 **-Gray**


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